$1 Million Gift Endows UT Software Engineering Chair (305)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A $1 million gift has established a new University of Tennessee research chair to promote development of improved software for cell phones, automobiles and other products.

Dr. Jesse H. Poore, a UT-Knoxville computer scientist, has been appointed to the new Ericsson-Harlan D. Mills Chair in Software Engineering.

The chair was established by a gift from L.M. Ericsson communications electronics firm in Stockholm, Sweden. It honors the late Harlan D. Mills, who founded Software Engineering Technology firm where he worked with Poore for several years.

Mills, a professor at Princeton University prior to working in private industry, donated his time and expertise to help develop UT-Knoxville’s computer science program before his death in 1996.

Jorma Mobrin, vice president of Ericsson, said Mills’ research resulted in improvements in company product designs and efficiency.

“Ericsson supports university research and scholarship worldwide,” Mobrin said. “We have selected the University of Tennessee-Knoxville for this endowment because of the close association between Dr. Mills and Dr. Poore and to acknowledge continuation of Mills’ work by faculty members and students at UT.”

Dr. Robert Ward, professor and head of computer science, said the department is a major industry source of students trained in the use of Mills’ software engineering methods.

“We are excited about this endowed chair. It will strengthen our research in software engineering processes and methodologies espoused by Harlan Mills and now being continued by Dr. Poore,” Ward said.

Poore, professor and former head of computer science, conducts software engineering research for radar, defense systems, automotive components, communications and other applications.

He came to UT-Knoxville in 1986 from Georgia Tech, where he was professor and assistant to the president for information technology. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as executive director of the Committee on Science and Technology in the U.S. House of Representatives, director of the Computing Center at Florida State University and project director at the National Science Foundation.